


climb up to nothing, no one.

by Voidromeda



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Role Reversal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-16 01:06:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19307530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Voidromeda/pseuds/Voidromeda
Summary: Handsome Jack and Handsome Rhys are two of the most terrifying CEOs in the entire world, where the former is the untouchable hologram and the latter is the frontman of the entire company. One day, they manage to catch a lead on theGortys project, even if Handsome Jack still wants his vault key back from those filthy bandits.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written in 2016.
> 
> Chapter 1 has been fixed up.  
> Chapter 2 has not been.
> 
> Uploaded for my own archival purposes.

His hand is chrome now. It is still taking some time for it to register in Rhys, no matter for how long he is at the top, that his fingers are pure _wealth_ and _power_ and no one can rip it away from him. He traces over paperwork with his fingers, feels Jack’s eyes on him as Rhys goes quiet in the middle of one of their negotiations, and he can imagine the snarky comment begging to escape Jack’s lips.

Even says it at the same time with him [ _“the world’s your oyster, but the only place you retreat to is back to your empty noggin”]_. He sees the Jack projection grin widely and tilt his head back, arms crossing in front of him, and that amazingly expressive face looks every bit amused that Rhys imagines he himself projects. He sees sparks and numbers fly out of Jack’s mouth as he laughs to a joke that Rhys can’t hear and doesn’t want to be privy to. He has more important things to focus on.

Chrome. His hand is chrome. If Jack has it his way then both his arms will be the slender yet strong technology that he has right now. Everything in Hyperion is going Jack’s way; so he supposes it makes sense to him, he thinks. He is the real power here; grinning and smiling with Rhys as they make their deals.

[Rhys will consider losing his flesh and every time Jack coos in his ear about how _great and influential_ it’ll be if both his arms are wealth Rhys finds his resolve breaking further and further.]

“You’re _covered_ in money, Rhys,” Jack says to him when he notices the way Rhys look at his flesh arm (with curious eyes and glimmering laughter), “so why not cover your other arm in money too? You’d look so _awesome._ Like, _think about it—_ the CEO of Hyperion, wrapping silver fingers around some asshole’s throat and strangling the livin’ crap outta ‘em. C’mon! Rhysie! _Rhysie!_ Imagine how _good_ that would look!”

He thumbs at the paperwork again, runs thinner fingers than before over words, and he can’t help but nod absentmindedly at the image. People already quake in their boots when they see him (and even more so when Rhys reveals his brand-new gun and squeezes the trigger with heaving confidence), and he thinks that the boost to his rep isn’t… a bad idea. “I’ll consider it, Jack.” Rhys says smoothly, voice unwavering, and Jack is on several monitors in front of him now instead of projecting to his side.

The man raises an eyebrow at him, hands on his hips out of shot and a smile wide on his lips—Rhys doesn’t miss the flash of teeth and he thinks about the files on Nakayama again. _‘Will Jack love having sharp teeth when his new body is made?’_ Rhys wonders, and doesn’t ask because—

Well, that isn’t important right now. None of this distraction is that important and Jack’s face is looking stern again as Rhys’ eyes fall back on reports about Pandora. The vault key is still out of their grasps and in the hands of the old hunters—in the hands of Lilith, and Rhys is always _so careful_ about her. Takes his time, plays it slow – and always waits for the aftermath when Lilith gets away just a second too late, just a moment too swift.

Anger is an attractive look on Jack; it burns with the inferno of a thousand volcanoes worse than the one Jack dies in. The anger from hearing Lilith’s name, however, sends chills down Rhys’ spine and makes his blood freeze over and his body heavy. Jack is always, always different with Lilith. He misses the raging flame that is his normal anger and tries to ignore the dry ice that Lilith brings about. He can’t ask what it is for. All he knows is that the vault key isn’t with them.

But they need to get it back, and Rhys looks over to Jack’s trophy case, at where Vasquez’s face stretches over a mannequin head next to Tassiter’s beard, and the grin on his face is hard to fight back. Jack doesn’t even have to look to see what Rhys is smiling at and he shudders at the laughter that spills free from the primary CEO.

“Oh Rhysie, I can’t wait for our trophies to mingle.” Jack says with a long, unnecessary sigh, and Rhys’ head feels light for a moment or more. [Perhaps he needs to worry about how intoxicating Jack’s attention is; but when he looks at him with scheming eyes and quirked lips, Rhys just finds himself swooning even more.]

“They _will_ mingle,” Rhys says, voice certain and final, “but first, we gotta work on Pandora and all the Eridium mining.” He is back to listing off new spots, new mutations, and goes back around to the vault hunters that they follow like hawks.

Rhys still has a business to run, alongside the megalomaniac program that spreads and spreads all across Helios.

* * *

Jack hates it when Rhys has to leave Helios to meet up with the other companies. Says Rhys can handle a gun, but he can’t handle a full on fight, and Rhys just rolls his eyes as he puts on a shield and places Jack’s pocket watch on his vest. The cloaking device doesn’t work if one is to press the button, at least not anymore because of its cracked surface, but Rhys wears it because of the way Jack’s gaze hones in on the object.

He may hate it when Rhys leaves, but oh does he love seeing the way Jack’s eyes glaze over as he dresses up. When Rhys leaves Helios for the first time ever, in a pretty black tailcoat and tight black jeans, he will never forget the way Jack’s eyes shine with glee.

“Following in my footsteps,” Jack murmurs, eyes glazing over and the glint in them makes Rhys shudder and straighten his back, stomp his foots a little harder. He only says it once in a while, and Rhys lets those words bounce around in his head.

Everyone knows where Jack’s path leads down to. Rhys lets the words soothe him as he heads off to the next shitshow that he has to deal with.

A meeting with a Torgue representative, then a meeting with a Dahl representative (Jack always asks him to kill the guy afterwards; Rhys indulges him most of the times), then he has to go and check up on their camps in Pandora before he returns. Rhys doesn’t mind the leave from Helios as much as Jack does, but he supposes that’s because he _has_ freedom. Jack doesn’t accompany him and Rhys thinks about it, thinks about tearing him away from his throne and taking him around Pandora again.

Make him walk among the common folks again, even if only Rhys can see him and Jack may get antsy and childish during meetings; a welcome distraction from all the stuffiness and tenseness as Rhys swaggers right in.

But he doesn’t act on it, and it weighs heavy on his mind whenever he has to go and deal with these idiots—because that’s what they are, Rhys thinks in a daze as he’s leaving with loader bots as his escorts, and he doesn’t know how Jack is able to deal with them.

[Jack doesn’t anymore, his mind supplies, but he does once and Rhys doesn’t know _how._ ]

* * *

The Gortys project is still a great deal of interest to Rhys. Zer0 is the last one to mention it, so Rhys makes sure that he has people following and observing their every waking moment. He quietly admires them when Jack isn’t paying attention, appreciates their movements and grace, and Rhys thinks about meeting them once or twice under a disguise and without his business partner to interrupt him.

But then he remembers that Zer0 is one of six that helps kill Jack and throw his body away so that no one ever finds it again. His heart grows tighter in his chest at the moment. They are still a point of interest however.

Tapping on his knee, Rhys leaves his thoughts to another time and looks out over to the Hub of Heroism from where he is sitting, up high, and watches as Jack plays God with the people in there. He watches turrets needlessly gun down the people that scream and flee, the weapon following the pointing of the giant Holo-Jack’s fingers and Rhys offers a hollow smile to no one.

It is a show of violence that is all in good fun. Their resources can handle it, even if Helios still isn’t at full power yet. No one can fight back anyway, and he drags his gaze away from where accountants are dying to stare instead at his control panel. He looks back at the accountants dying with startling ease.

Jack means it when he tells him, just a few moments ago, that he is going to make them regret their reports.

The Hub of Heroism is a mess when Jack is done with it, with only a few handful of accountants surviving the slaughter. Jack’s projection stands tall over them all with his hands on his hips, and Rhys rolls his eyes. _‘Figures,’_ he thinks as he watches Jack tower over everyone there.

Even from here, Rhys can see the way Jack’s expression twists and looks annoyed. _“Well?”_ his voice booms and echoes, full of heavy static and scratching to his ears, and Rhys winces. _“What are you waitin’ for? An invitation? **GET OUT OF MY SIGHT BEFORE YOU JOIN THIS PILE.”**_

Everyone is scrambling away from Handsome Jack then, their haste making them bump into Loader bots who do nothing but sort of twitch while people cry and flee. Within moments, the large Jack projection is gone and a small monitor pops out from the wall next to Rhys. It floats on over to the seat in front of him and Jack’s image appears on the screen.

“I really, really need a new freakin’ body.” Jack says, irritably, before he goes back to ramble about something as he rides off his murderous high.

Rhys holds back his smile.

* * *

“Come to Pandora with me.” Rhys blurts out one day, and Jack pauses in his dancing to look at him with surprise burning yellow in his eyes. He looks back to the golden chair in Jack’s office and breathes in deeply. “Get back in my head just this one time, and then you can decide if you wanna follow after with me. It doesn’t hurt, doesn’t have any repercussions—c’mon, you’ll be out and about again.”

Jack is just staring at him, curious about how Rhys will continue to go on and he inhales sharply through his teeth. “You can distract me all you want—I’ll even tell them what you think of them, everything. Every insult, every comment you have to say; I’ll let them know that _Handsome Jack_ is there, and that they can’t try to bullshit me.”

The AI licks his teeth – or, something close to it– and is silent still. He almost worries, but Jack’s eyes go wide and the grin that spreads on his face is almost predatory. He _will_ say yes, because the amount of times that Jack complains about being cooped up here isn’t a low number.

Rhys has honestly lost count. Jack will probably answer in about… half an hour from now, and Rhys is too impatient because he has to leave _in forty fu---freaking minutes_ and Jack is well aware. He exhales, smooths out his clothes and plays with the pocket watch, and hammers the nail onto the coffin.

“It feels good when I plug the port in, too. Really, _really_ good.” Rhys purrs out, eyes half-lidded, and he can practically feel Jack’s hunger as the man hears that. His skin crawls, his body covers itself in goosebumps, and he tries not to think about how he is using a pseudo-pleasure against an unfeeling -

“Oh Rhysie, Rhysie, _Rhysie;_ I am going to mess your dreams up and use your arm against you—y’know that, right babe? Also, you still should make that other arm a robo-arm—think about how freaking _cool_ it’ll be!”

Jack makes his compromise.

* * *

When Rhys goes to Pandora this time, with Jack in his head, he feels a lot of satisfaction in the fact that Jack can’t take his eyes off of Rhys’ heels. He is fully focusing on the way Rhys’ heels clack powerfully against the floors of the small, Hyperion facility. People look at Rhys with wide eyes, and he grins at them when his eye turns yellow.

Everyone knows what that means, and some of them scramble away from him even faster than usual. Some can’t even talk to him without their eyes darting around, searching for the Jack that they will never see, and it makes negotiations _almost_ difficult..

He patronisingly pets everyone, gives them slick smiles and runs his chrome fingers through their hair or just pets their head if they don’t have one, and tells them to pay attention to _him._

The threat in his voice always freezes them with terror, and Jack just looks at Rhys because he hasn’t seen the him on Pandora.

Helios Rhys is poisonous wine, and Pandora Rhys is nothing but oil oozing through teeth and pores. It is best that Handsome Jack learns that and catalogues away the adaptations he makes to be able to _work_ on this hell-hole. Praise slips out through in between Jack’s teeth, and Rhys doesn’t smile even as the other CEO goes on and on and on about how proud he is of him.

Bringing Jack with him is a good idea, and he repeats it to himself. _It is a good idea. It is a good idea. It…_

* * *

They find something worthwhile about Atlas, about the Gortys project and Rhys looks over to Jack – where the hologram is, anyway – and smiles at the giddy expression on his face. They don’t have the vault key from Lilith and her two bastards back yet, but a vault is a vault and Jack is nothing if not optimistic.

“Kill him anyway, pumpkin.” Jack says when he notices Rhys looking at him, and he indicates with his head at the guy next to the head scientist. “Friggin’ asshole has been stealing shit.”

“How do you know?” Rhys asks, interrupting the presentation in the room, and he rests both elbows on the table and folds his hands under his chin. “Is it from when---?” Jack is still glaring at the head scientist’s assistant, and Rhys shrugs and takes that as confirmation. He pets at the small, personalised gun he has on his person before he looks over to the loader bot waiting for order.

“Loader Bot,” Rhys says, motions him over with his flesh hand [and he hates the way everyone looks relieved that it’s not his other hand] and the loader bot stomps its way over. Rhys points at the assistant and the room goes cold from his next words; _“Blow him up to pieces.”_ The man is now a satisfying mess of fleshy chunks on the ground and Jack is laughing a belly-aching laugh. The man grasps his stomach, as though he can actually feel pain, and points at each and every one of the faces in the meeting room.

“Man, cupcake,” Jack says, his hand a phantom weight on Rhys’ shoulder as he motions for the meeting to continue, “you brighten up my boring ass days.”

* * *

When Rhys reads over the latest report, with Jack doing something else deep within Helios station, his eyes widen.

He reads over it, again and again and again, until Jack is actually back from whatever he has been doing and the AI is staring at him with raised eyebrows. “Rhysie, cupcake, princess, pumpkin,” he begins and continues, repeating pet names when Rhys isn’t reacting just yet.

The pet names stop when Rhys suddenly rises up from his chair, his desk, and nearly knocks the thing over with how quickly he stands up. There’s a big smile on Rhys’ face, bigger than Jack has ever seen it, and he looks at him with promise in his eyes. “They found the location of the Gortys project.” Rhys says with a deep exhalation, and he has to keep from laughing when Jack’s face is utter shock. “I’m gonna arrange for us to go down there, so we can scope everything out but—they found the Gortys project. Jack, can you _believe it?_ ”

The laugh that leaves Jack’s lips echo in the office, static and even terrifying to Rhys. Chills run down his spine and he shivers as goose pimples appear on his skin. He breathes in and out, listens to Jack laugh because he _deserves_ this after what the bandits did to him.

Eventually, Jack calms and looks at Rhys, his gaze even. “Atlas may have been a shit for brains company,” Jack starts with flourish, “but that Gortys project of theirs is gonna be the best thing ever Rhysie. _Just you wait and see._ ”

Rhys is quiet at that and gives him a small, adoring smile, and Jack is on the large projection again. He floats around in a background of ones and zeros, the perfect image of relaxed and enjoying it, and Rhys clears his throat as he thinks of what he’s going to tell Jack.

It has the potential to be an _awful_ idea…

But didn’t so many of Jack’s success begin with ‘awful’ ideas?

“You should take over my body when we’re going down there.” Rhys says. Jack just looks at him incredulously, eyebrows arching.

His upper body is the only thing showing in the large screen now and he’s looking down _at_ Rhys and he shakes his head. “Kiddo, last time I suggested that, you nearly freaked out-”

“Yeah, and I’m the one suggesting it right now.” Rhys argues. He squares his shoulders and straightens up his posture, and Jack’s eyes are half-lidded at that show of confidence. “And I will say it again. You _should take over my body when we’re down there._ Actually, take over it the whole ride there.” he inhales shakily then exhales slowly. This is it; this is what is going to make or break everything. He carefully considers his next words and tries not to let the nervousness bleed out into his voice. “And _that_ is not a suggestion. It’s an _order_ from an equal to another.”

Jack’s eyebrows shoot up, as though impressed that Rhys has the balls to say that, and he laughs and waves his hand in the projection. “Yeah, sure cupcake, like I was gonna reject ya when you looked so _excited._ ”

Music is playing in the office again now and Rhys rolls his eyes when he recognises this particular one. Jack isn’t dancing this time, merely enjoying the music, and Rhys sinks down on his chair to get back to work.

* * *

The whole trip down to Pandora doesn’t register in Rhys’ mind for a long time. He remembers everything in a blur through Jack’s memories. Words are garbled and warped, and blood and guts are at the corner of his eyes. There is dust and ruin, and a – a person with the name Pollux is found, taken away for questioning because he’s still alive. A warped message from Athena to the remainder of Atlas, a threat, and Hyperion is looking everything over and taking all they can.

Old weapons, rare ones, and he—something opens up, he – Jack – grabs the object from its pedestal and he shoves it in someone else’s hands. His own laughter echoes in his head as Jack witnesses that. Keeps it in mind; only he can touch it now.

A map—a map to – to a vault. Or, on how to get the vault. Almost, almost there.

Everything is a hazy memory, but Rhys doesn’t mind. Jack is going to get a vault, and they—they are going to _get everything._ Everything—the traveler, the vault of the traveler, and the Gortys project will—

Jack is going to get a vault without anyone knowing.

In the back of his head, Pandora is screaming and the sound is music to his ears.


	2. Chapter 2

There are a lot of things that Rhys needs to catch up to once he wakes up. His eyes flutter open and Jack is in his head still; blue and flickering, with wide grins and eyes that glow gold with glee and manic joy. He’s sitting at a desk and he feels dizzy and when he looks down there is a weird… thing in his hand. It looks so familiar and yet he doesn’t know where he—

“Gortys!” Rhys finally cries out and Jack is laughing and pointing at him when the realisation dawns on Rhys. He throws the object up in the air in surprise and he abruptly stands up, causes his chair to topple over, and he climbs onto the desk desperately in an attempt to catch the Gortys object in his hands. “Oh god.” Rhys exhales deeply, panic finally leaving his body, and he slumps.

Everything spins around again, head aching and pounding, and Rhys ends up rolling off the desk and falling onto his side. _Ohhh god_ his head hurts. Lying down on his back, the CEO blinks a few times until he notes that Jack is staring down at him with raised eyebrows and a curious smile. “You uh, okay there Rhysie? You kind of flipped out.”

“Everything is spinning. Head hurts. Let me sleep.” Rhys whimpers out and Jack frowns down at him, looking perturbed by something. He reaches forward and strokes over Rhys’s port, sending shocks down his spine, and Rhys gasps and arches. “Jaaaaack, not—not now, _Jack._ ” Rhys mumbles out, swatting ineffectually through Jack’s hand, and the hologram is staring at him like he’s an idiot.

Which, to be fair, he does look the part right now. He rubs at his own face with his free hand, the other one grasping the Gortys core tightly. “What happened?” Rhys forces out, and Jack taps his port again and Rhys gasps from the stronger shock. He sits up suddenly and Jack is standing near him, arms crossing in front of him.

“Lemme see…” Jack rolls his shoulders and looks down at Rhys with half-lidded eyes. “Well, we’re on Pandora right now—at one of the Hyperion underground bases. Mining and research operations, and all that. Y’know, the yuj.” Rhys shakes his head at Jack; the pounding in his head is significantly less… pounding now. Wow, he is very smart right now, isn’t he? “So we’re here, we got the Gortys core, and now that thing is imprinted onto _you._ Not any other jackass around here, but you.”

“What happens if someone other than me tries to touch it?” Rhys asks, having only the vaguest recollections of what actually happens. He squints at Jack when the man starts laughing again and he rolls his eyes as Jack makes a show of wiping away nonexistent tears from his eyes.

Jack wheezes a little bit and Rhys thinks that that man is way too good at seeming human. “Well, babe!” The hologram is suddenly much closer now, leaning close to Rhys, and a big grin is on his face. “It seems that if anyone other than you touches it they get electrocuted. Which is… pretty great. We get to keep some assholes away from stealing _our_ goods.”

A sigh escapes Rhys’s lips and he forces himself up on his feet again. He sways ever so slightly and he grasps at the table to keep himself balanced. “Okay, but that doesn’t explain why everything is _fucking wonky.”_

“Sweetheart, _language._ ” Jack tsks and glares at him, and Rhys glares back at him as much as he can. “I think uh… it’s me you know, possessing you. For like, hours. Pretty much a day, I think. I don’t know, I wasn’t keepin’ count of shit. Y’know, I _really_ need a body, Rhysie. Like, I love yours but I want _my_ body.”

“I get it, Mr. Jackass.” Rhys groans out and he makes his way over to the chair to set it up straight, the Gortys core now laying on the table. “A body. A body for you.” _I have several in mind. Ready for you. For Mercenary day. Maybe._  

He links his fingers together and stretches his arms, groaning when he hears satisfying cracks from his flesh hand. A smile spreads on his face and he rubs at where his neck meets his shoulder and an irritable sigh escapes Rhys’s lips. “Right, so… what’s the plan right now?” Rhys’s eyes flicker over to Jack and the hologram lets out a ‘hm?’ before an ‘oh right’ follows after.

“The plan is that we follow the map on the Gortys core. People are thinkin’ it’s to a vault, and others are trying to scrounge up whatever they can on what Gortys is for.”

“Any luck?”

A frown appears on Jack’s face. “Not. Freaking. Really. Atlas apparently had it set so that if some code isn’t inputted every few weeks or whatever, pretty much every information on the Gortys project will be wiped out.”

“Oh _come on!_ ” Rhys cries out and Jack just shoots him a gaze that says ‘I know, bud, I know’. “Seriously? What if someone forgot or something? Holy shit, they could lose all the information in like, a second just because of a mistake.”

“Well, Atlas never was that smart, given how I _crushed them to nothingness._ ” Jack sings, a grin briefly appearing on his face before it fades away again. “Point is, most of the info on the core is gone. Cooooompletely outta our reach. Buuuut, we were able to learn that the vault we’re looking for is the Vault of the Traveler. No clue other than that though, babe.”

He responds to Jack with silence, and the man stares at him as he folds his hands under his chin. His mismatched eyes focus on the Gortys core and, briefly, Rhys wonders how exactly Atlas managed to stumble upon a vault.

Humming, his gaze goes back to Jack. “Jack, did the vault key ever look like this? The only other one I saw was a fake.” At his question, Jack just shakes his head.

“Nope. That thing is not a vault key. Doesn’t hum with Eridium or whatever.”

“Ah.” That’s all Rhys has to say. He lifts the thing up again and pokes at it, prods it a bit, until he’s surprised by the core glowing and projecting a large map. It shows a location on Pandora, once more, and Rhys stares at the vault symbol that hovers ominously above a certain location.

He stares at it for a bit and then sighs, runs his hands through his hair and frowns when he feels how messy it is beneath his palms. He shoots a glare at Jack’s direction and the hologram just raises his eyebrow at him incredulously.

“That’s where… we have to go, huh.” Rhys murmurs. “And I have to be there.” He taps at the core again and the map is gone. He stares off into the distance, Jack’s voice a background noise as the man starts to ramble about his hatred of Atlas (that Rhys wholeheartedly understands and agrees with).

The Gortys core… Rhys snorts to himself. He can barely remember what Jack did while he possessed Rhys, but he does remember the name of the place he went to.

 _Wow._ Who knew that the death rally that he and Vaughn got themselves in is where the Gortys project has been hiding? He glares at the core as though it somehow offended him as he thinks back to Fiona, Sasha, and August. What a freaking _mess_ it was to deal with those three.

He doesn’t know where they are now – probably off conning and thieving more people, and August is probably busy being a shithole bandit – and he really could care less about them. He sighs and runs his fingers through his hair again as the mess from way before rears its ugly head up again.

He went down to Pandora with ten million dollars to chase a vault, returned with nothing but an angry HoloJack that grew attached to him as Rhys pretty much betrayed everyone for him, and here he is now.

Back on freaking Pandora. With an angry HoloJack that is attached to him. Chasing a vault.

“My life,” Rhys begins aloud, interrupting Jack, “is going in a circle.” When Jack looks at him for elaborations, Rhys waves him off. The man gives him two middle fingers in response. “I’m probably going to meet up with Fiona and Sasha again, and maybe August, and then I’ll have to deal with Pandora all over again.”

 _‘Great.’_ He thinks bitterly, and his thoughts are interrupted when Jack snorts in amusement. “Rhysie, baby, cupcake, _sugar.”_ The hologram pushes himself away from the wall (does he really need to do that? Does he? He’s just doing that to look intimidating; asshole) and he flickers next to Rhys with his hands on his hips. “You have _me_ with you. You have me to take over and save your pert little ass when things go wrong.”

A gentle shock runs through him when Jack reaches over and strokes over his port slowly, gently, with one finger. It’s… almost soothing—Rhys finds himself wanting to drift off from the small, gentle shocks. “You’ve got all of Helios with you, ready to protect your lithe little body.” One finger becomes two and Rhys hums from how weirdly nice this feels. Jack is never ‘weirdly nice’. “I’ll have _anyone_ after your ass dead and six feet under.”

He looks at Jack incredulously and the man gives him an awfully charming smile. “It’s a promise, cupcake. You’re safe as long as I’m around.”

Rhys rolls his eyes and sighs. He slumps into his chair, already sorely missing the chair back in Jack’s office, and he stares up at the ceiling of the room he’s in.

He is really, _really_ not looking forward to wandering around on Pandora again.

…Though…

A smirk curls on Rhys’s lips as he stares up at the ceiling.

_…it would be funny to see Sasha again after she called him a cog in the machine, wouldn’t it?_


End file.
